On-line special interview excerpt: Sue Blane!

Pamela Obermeyer (the afro Trannie), Sue, and Yasmine Pettigrew
(the costume mistress from the Theatre Upstairs) at Transylvania
99
(photo from Jaimie Froemming and Mark Becknauld)

"Don't Blane Sue-she just made the costumes!" -

Crazed catches up with costume diva SUE
BLANE(EXCERPT from issue 54)

If you know the name of only one non-actor from
the Rocky Horror Picture Show, you probably know Sue Blane's.
Amateur RH costumers everywhere have a love-hate relationship with
her costume designs: from the deceptively simple to devilishly
difficult, we love them enough to want to copy them, yet are
daunted as we find the devil really is in the details. "I take the
detail first, and then I expand it," Blane explains. What Rocky
fans may not know is that Blane's first love is actually set
design.

"As set designer, you have complete control from
day one, and it's fantastic. I grew up as a set designer; costumes
fell into [my repertoire] due to Rocky. I didn't do Rocky for eight
or nine years: I was busy doing set design work and didn't want to
be known as a costume designer.

"Costume design has to be sculptural: it has to
be three-dimensional-you have to know how to build a stage to make
a costume....I could give or take costume design. As a costume
designer I fulfill the role of a set designer: I put all the
emotion into a costume that I would into a [set]
design."

Blane doesn't have a favorite Rocky costume
souvenir: "I gave them all away!" Still, she does have a few
favorite costumes from the different versions. Her favorite in the
current UK Tour, for example, is the chiffon and rhinestone outfit
[similar to Frank's film 'dinner outfit'] which debuted in the
Silver Anniversary UK tour. "It's the first time we've put the
'cocktail dress' back in," she says. "I'm the biggest fan of the
show, but it's a really fast change. It [the costume change] really
isn't achievable, but we did it!"

When asked her all-time favorite, Blane picked
two pieces:

"The first one is Frank's first corset, from
The Maids. I did everything on it. I painted it, put the
sequins on, turned it upside down, and fitted it to him. [Blane
notes that this corset was the only Show piece that made it into
the film, and she thinks it was replaced early on.] The other is
Janet's hat from the film. I bought it from Swan and Edgar...it was
a huge department store, selling out of everything. I was in a
hurry; I whizzed in and bought this terrible hat for Janet. It was
bent when I bought it; it was bent when I put it on her head. It
reminds me of shopping for Rocky."

.....

How does Blane keep the Rocky designs
fresh?

"I had a long time away from it: it was carried
on by the likes of Yasmine [Pettigrew, the original Show's costume
mistress] and others. I didn't get another real crack at it until
1990. I did my best to move it on a bit; we all then decided it was
better to take it back a bit." She describes the current UK tour as
"a return to the classics." "It's a revival; you're building on
what you had before. With a musical like Rocky, it only happens
once in a lifetime."

Of course, we had to ask a few costume-specific
questions....

For the complete interview, order
your copy of issue 54, which also includes articles on a Rocky
wedding, South Park art, and the abandoned lab props at Bray
Studios.

On-line special: Q&A with Richard O'Brien!

A Crazed exclusive. Reprinted from Crazed Imaginations #53...which also includes a fabulous Richard centerfold,
unreleased song lyrics, photos from Ritz as Eddie to the Crystal Maze to Mephistopheles Smith, the Transylvania
conventions, and Richard on the world's greatest inventions (not what you think)...and more.

Richard on Richard:

Now that you've done an album, are you thinking of doing another, or do you want to go straight into work on other projects?

I'm writing a Rocky H sequel at the moment - I hope I make it.

Please tell us a little more about your work "T-Zee."

Should (I think) have been a Heavy Metal musical. Some good songs.

What is the role you've enjoyed playing most in your career on stage? On film/television?

None - you think it's going to be fun but of course it's hard work.

Do you prefer to perform in your own work, or someone else's?

No choice preferred.

You've been in quite a few Sam Shepard plays. What do you like best about performing in his plays?

The underbelly land of mythical America - trailer park sagas and so on.

When you do lyrics for a project like The Stripper or The Return of Captain Invincible, how much interaction do you have with the show? Would they just call you up, for example, and say "We need a song with lots of drink names in it [Name Your Poison]?"

I plot the songs if I'm involved from day one - but on "The Return of Capt. I." there were holes in the script which were to be filled by a group called "Air Supply." They went walk-about, Richard Hartley & I came to the rescue.

You have an incredibly varied career as a performer; is there anything you've never done that you'd like to? (Comic book? Art show? Whatever?)

Fly without propulsion. Is is a bird? Is it a plane?

For more Richard goodies, order your copy of issue 53, which also includes Ritz on morality, Richard at
Retrofest, a review of the music from Richard's detective musical "The Stripper," what's in Richard's fridge, and pages
and pages of photos.